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Last month, the Port of Baltimore signed a six-year extension to an agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC), which will continue to ship containerized cargo through the port.

The new pact extends the current contract with the Geneva-based international container transporter, the port’s top container shipping company, to Dec. 31, 2014. The extension requires MSC to bring a minimum of 100,000 containers to the port annually — three times the amount the original 10-year contract required.

MSC began a weekly vessel service to Baltimore in 1988, when about 4,500 containers were brought to the port. By 2008, that number increased 30 fold to more than 136,000 containers.

Among the 360 U.S. ports, Baltimore is ranked No. 1 for handling roll on/roll off cargo, trucks, imported forest products, and imported gypsum, sugar and iron ore. The port is served by two nearby rail intermodal ramps: CSX Intermodal’s Intermodal Container Transfer Facility and Norfolk Southern Railway’s Bayview Intermodal Yard.